Bolivia’s worst floods in 60 years submerged villages, ruined crops and destroyed homes. Some indigenous communities in the jungle are adapting to a more resilient way of living; others are forced out to the cities. Sam Jones reports

For centuries the traditional dress of South America's indigenous people has been mocked as the garb of losers. The Indians lost power to the conquistadors, they lost land and wealth to waves of European settlers, and eventually they lost pride.

Letters: Noam Chomsky (Latin America and Asia are at last breaking free, March 15) rightly states "the indigenous populations have become much more active and influential, particularly in Bolivia and Ecuador ..."